The Thanksgiving Gift

Kyle put the phone on speaker, and I said, “Hello, how may I be of assistance?” Kyle covered his mouth with his hand, trying to hide his laugh. “ I see that you’re just as disrespectful as ever.” I happen to think I was being very polite, so I don’t know what he is talking about. “ Why are you calling me? It has been almost two years since I have seen or spoken to you. Are you dying or something?” Kyle's goofy ass couldn’t hold it in any longer, and his laugh slipped out. “ You ungrateful bitch. I called to give you a second chance, but you’re still a disrespectful ingrate. I can’t believe that my blood is running through your veins. You’re no granddaughter of mine.” I looked at Kyle with this confused look on my face. What is this old frat talking about now? I thought we already established that we were no longer a family two years ago.

Maybe this is a sign of early onset of dementia. “ What is wrong with you, old man? We already cut ties years ago, so why are you even calling me talking foolishness?” Seriously, what is wrong with some people’s brains? He is calling out of the blue and acting like we had a relationship in the past. That is ridiculous to me. “ Please don’t call me anymore. We’re not a family, and we never will be.” I ended the call because I didn’t want to waste my time on him. I also blocked the number he called from. The nerve of that man talking about giving me a second chance as if I did something wrong to him. I called Dad and told him what just happened. he was upset and said he would call the old man to see what was happening with him. After being so rudely interrupted, I am no longer in the mood to have sex.

The following two days flew by with no issues or crazy people bothering us. Today was Saturday, and we were having a family gathering at my in-law's house. It has been a while since we all gathered and spent time together. Dad, Elizabeth, and Grandma Bernice will be there as well. It was a lovely fall day for an outdoor brunch. The day was perfect, as usual. Dad and Mr Grant talked about golf and Wall Street stuff, while women talked about shopping and everything happening in high society. One would think that only poor people have a lot of drama in their lives, but that's not the case. I was amazed to learn how many rich husbands had affairs with their maids or nannies. I made a mental note that there would be no live-in nannies or maids in our house.

Mrs Grant asked me, “ Kadian, have you and Kyle talked about starting a family yet? I would love to have grandchildren running around the house, but no pressure." Everyone around the table laughed. She sure is subtle with her request for grandchildren. “ Yes, Mom, we’ve talked about it, and he is leaving the decision up to me when we start.” She had this devilish smile like she was planning something sinister. She looks hilarious with that look; I wonder what she is thinking. After that night, I spoke to Kyle about Lisa's outlook on starting a family. I stopped taking my birth control pills. I didn’t tell Kyle that I had stopped taking them; I wanted to be surprised if and when we got pregnant. Plus, I didn’t want any pressure on us, thinking every time we made love, we were doing it to make a baby. I want it to happen naturally and surprise us both.

The next few months flew by, and the next thing we knew, it was Thanksgiving week. Our families voted, and we were having Thanksgiving at the Grant's house this year, and we will have Christmas at Grandma Bernice's. It has been a little over two months since I stopped taking my birth control pills. In October, I missed my period, but I didn’t say anything to Kyle about it. I didn’t want to get my hopes up and then get let down, so I waited until this month to see if I would miss my period again. My period would come the first week of each month, so now we’re in the third week of November and I still didn’t get my period. I decided not to take a pregnancy test, and I went to see my doctor instead. She took some of my blood, and she called me yesterday and told me that I was pregnant.

I still didn’t tell Kyle the good news yet. I will tell him when we are having Thanksgiving dinner with our families. I know he is going to lose his mind. He has been so devoted to his godfather's duties that Karen and Mark’s baby hasn’t been born yet. I know he will be a wonderful, loving father to our child. Thanksgiving is on Thursday, and everyone is supposed to be there by four o’clock in the afternoon. I am so excited to share the news that it feels like I am bursting from the seams. I was racking my brain, trying to figure out how to deliver the excellent news to our family. Then I saw this commercial on television where a man was proposing to his girlfriend, and it gave me a great idea. I immediately logged on to Amazon and ordered twelve small gift boxes. Then, I called my doctor's office to get enough copies of my first sonogram.

The day before Thanksgiving, I waited until Kyle went to work before putting all the pictures in these cute little gift boxes with fancy bows. I hid them from Kyle so he wouldn’t be tempted to open one. The following day, we got up and had breakfast like normal, and we were excited to see everyone later. I am really happy that I did not have any morning sickness or any signs that would reveal I was pregnant. We got ready, left our apartment around two-thirty, and headed to my in-laws. I kept smiling and looking out the window because I didn’t want to give myself away. When we got to the house, I ran upstairs and hid my bag of gifts in the back of our room closet.

I went back downstairs to join in the activities that were going on in the living room. The Grants have a Thanksgiving tradition of watching a different James Bond movie each year. They were discussing if they should change their tradition, and if they did, what would the new tradition be? I sat down next to Kyle, listening to them go back and forth, trying to decide. I enjoyed their family comradery and drank eggnog. When they decided what their new tradition would be, my father arrived and it was almost time for dinner. We gathered around the table, covered in various Thanksgiving dishes. The chef did an excellent job. Everything was finger-licking good. When the maids started clearing the table of the leftover food and dishes, I excused myself and went upstairs to get my bag.

When I returned downstairs, the maids brought several different dessert options. I pulled one of the maids aside and told her to put one of the gift boxes in front of everyone at the table. I sat back down and waited until they finished placing everything on the table. Mrs Grant noticed the gift boxes being put in front of them, glanced at her husband, and said, “Honey, what are these?” Everyone stopped talking and looked at what she was pointing at. Mr Grant looked just as confused as she was. “ I don’t know, sweetheart. Kids?” Melissa and Kyle shook their heads. “We didn’t get these,” said Kyle. I cleared my throat and said, “I did. Please open them?” Everyone was staring at me, trying to figure out what was happening. It was Thanksgiving, not Christmas, so there should be no gifts.

They kept staring at me when they slowly opened the little boxes. I kept staring at Kyle while biting my bottom lip. He finally took his eyes off me to unfold and look at what was in the box. After looking at the picture, he dropped the paper, jumped out of his seat, picked me up in a bear hug, and started spinning me around while kissing me all over my face. The next thing we heard was Mrs Grant screaming, and then the whole room was in uproar. Everybody was cheering and hugging me. Grandma Bernice had tears in her eyes. “ I will get to meet and help raise my great-grandchild.” then the tears flowed out of her eyes. Mr Grant hugged Kyle and told him how proud of him he was. Then he went into his study and returned with a bottle of Louis Xl: 1874. My dad walked over to Mr Grant, looked at the bottle in his hand and said “damn!”

I had no idea what the big deal was, so I asked Kyle, and he pulled out his open and showed me why my father said damn! That bottle of liquor cost over two million dollars. Mr Grant was all smiles when told, “ I was waiting for the perfect occasion to open this bottle of cognac, and I don’t think anything can top the news you gave us today.” The maids brought out the glasses and poured the drink for everyone but me. I had a glass of eggnog; I wanted to taste what a two million cognac tastes like. “ Everyone, please raise your glasses so we can congratulate our kids for giving us this wonderful blessing.” Mr Grant said we all raised our glasses and said, “Hear, hear!”